Latch for metallic grave vaults



Jan. 2, 1940. BECK 2,185,326

. LATCH FOR METALLIC GRAVE VAULTS Filed Dec. 10, 1937 2 Sheets-Shet 1Ema/rm AZZcvz F3560]:

Patented Jan. 2, 1940 UITED STATS "Aren't oFFic Allen F. Beck,

Columbus, Ohio Application December 10, 1937, Serial No. 179,165

6 Claims.

Ihis invention relates to improvements in metallic burial vaults of thetype utilizing an inverted pan-shaped base and a separable openbottomeddome or hood member, the latter being provided around its lower marginaledges with flanges adapted for seating engagement with complementalflanges formed in connection with the marginal edges of the base member.In vaults of this type, it is customary also to provide releasablelatching mechanism carried in connection with the under or inner part ofthe base member for uniting the separable hood or dome member with thebase member whenever desired.

When a relatively heavy metallic burial vault and the contents thereofare placed on the bottom of a grave with only the limited area of themarginal edges of the vault base in contact with the soil, under certaincircumstances it may happen that the combined weight of the vault, itscontents and the superposed soil pressing on the dome or hood of thevault, may cause the base tosink into the soil or become out of level,so that moisture, or sub-surface waters, may find entrance to theinterior of the vault to an undesirable extent.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an inverted pan-typevault base, below its elevated casket-receiving platform, withtransversely extending soil-engaging plates, the latter being disposedat each end of the base and extending transversely thereof, the saidplates being so disposed as to engage with the soil and to increase thecontact area of the vault base with the soil, to the end of overcomingany tendency on the part of the base to sink or settle into the soil toan undesirable degree.

It is another object of the invention to form and position thesoil-engaging bottom plates of the vault base so that said plates willbe rigid, strong and substantial and augment the mechanical strength ofthe vault base itself.

Another object of the invention resides in providing the vault base ateach end thereof with L) a pair of pivotally movable latching members bywhich the hood or dome of the vault is secured to the base together withimproved means, manually operable from the end of the vault, forefiecting the simultaneous actuation of a pair of said pivoted latchmembers, the latch operating means being carried in connection with thecasket-receiving platform of the base immediately above but spaced fromthe soil engaging plates of the base, so that said latch members andtheir operating means will not have their operation interfered with asthe result of denting or other injury to the soil-engaging plates.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of openingsformed in the ends of the soil-engaging plates in registration with thepivoted latching members, the said openings providing for facility andconvenience in the matter of uniting said latch members with theircommon operating means.

The present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of my priorapplication, Serial No. 152,9'18, filed July 10, 1937, which is directedto the arrangement of the said engaging plates above mentioned withrespect to longitudinally extending runner ribs provided on the flangesof the base section of the vault, the latching means forming the subjectmatter of this invention being also shown.

For a further understanding of the invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in vertical section,looking upwardly toward the bottom of one end of a metallic grave vaultbase formed in accordance with the present invention, the soil-engagingplate having been omitted in order to more clearly disclose internalstructure;

Fig. 2 is a plan view looking toward the bottom of one end of the vaultbase, and disclosing more particularly the latch operating mechanism,the soil-engaging plate having been omitted from this figure;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken through the vault base andadjoining lower portions of the hood or dome, and disclosing one of thepivoted latching members for holding the base and hood together, theplane of the figure being indicated by the line IIl--III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken through one endof the vault base and contiguous lower portions of the dome or hood, theplane of the figure being indicated by the line IV-IV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the base member of the vault, disclosingthe soil-engaging plates;

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective View of one of the pivoted latchingmembers;

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the latch operating lever;

8 is a similar view of one of the latch actuating springs.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral i designatesthe base section of a 55 metallic grave vault. In this instance, thebase section is of the inverted pan-type and comprises a relativelyelevated casket-receiving platform 2 and downwardly projecting side andend walls 3, the latter terminating at their lower edges in outwardlyand horizontally directed seating flanges 4 which, in turn, terminate insubstantially V-shaped reenforcing runner ribs 5. Cooperative with thebase section I is an open-bottomed hood or dome section 6 which, likethe base section I, is formed from pressed steel plate. The hood sectionincludes depending vertical side and end walls I which are adapted tofit over and around the corresponding walls of the base section I, thelower edge portions of the walls 1 being terminated in inwardly andhorizontally extending flanges 8 which seat upon the flanges 4 of thebase section, and terminate in short upwardly directed reeinforcingflanges 9, which are disposed immediately contiguous to the lowerportions of the side and end walls 3.

In order to hold the base and hood sections in their assembledrelationship, the vault is provided with latching mechanism comprising,in this instance, a plurality of pressed steel pivoted latch members l0,which are shown more particularly in Figs. 3 and 6 of the drawings. Eachof these latch members includes at its upper end an inwardly bentfulcrum forming lip l I, a body portion l2 and a pair of inwardlyextending side Wings 23. The lip H of each latch member is receivedwithin a horizontal slot l4 formed in one of the side walls 3, while thewings 13 are likewise received within spaced parallel vertical slots I5, also formed in the side walls 3. A coiled wire spring I6 isinterposed between the body portion of the latch member and theadjoining side wall 3 and normally the spring serves to maintain thelatch member in the extended latching position, disclosed in Fig. 3, sothat the curved lower edges ll of the wings l3 will be disposedimmediately over the upper edges of the flanges 9.

In order to retract the latch members to provide for the removal of thehood or dome section from the base section, I provide a latch operatedmechanism which includes a pivoted operating lever l8, one of theselevers being provided at each end of the base section for operating apair of latch members. The lever is is pivotally mounted on the roundedportion I 9 of a headed stud 20. This stud includes a squared portion 2!which is receivable within a correspondingly shaped opening formed in aboss 22 integrally struck in a downwardly direction from the platform 2of the base section. The threaded portion of said stud receives aremovable securing nut 23, the latter being arranged generally below theplane defining the upper surface of the platform by reason of theinwardly struck formation of the boss 22.

The lever l8 includes a downwardly and angularly extending portion 24,which terminates at its lower end in an outwardly directed manipulatingextremity 25. This extremity is arranged in resilient engagement withthe lower edge of one of the end walls 3, the said edge being notched asat 26 so that when the lever i8 is rocked, the manipulating extremity 25thereof will engage with the shoulder of the notch 26 in order to retainthe latch members in their retracted positions against the influence oftheir actuating springs l6. Each of the levers 18, on opposite sides ofits pivotal mounting, is provided with a pair of shouldered lugs 2'!with which are engaged the inner ends of a pair of twisted wire links28, the outer portions of the latter being spaced to provide parallellegs 29, which terminate in outwardly directed portions 33, the latterbeing received within openings 3|, formed in the side wings l3 of thelatch members Hi. By this construction, a single lever l8, manipulatedfrom the end of the vault, may be utilized for controlling the operationof an adjoining pair of latch members.

To strengthen the base of the vault and to increase its ground engagingarea, the base section l is provided at each end thereof, as shownparticularly in Fig. 5, with a pair of groundengaging plates 32. Theseplates extend transversely of the base section of the vault at each endthereof, and terminate in upwardly and outwardly directed flanges 33,which are welded, or otherwise permanently secured, to the undersurfaces of the flanges 4 of the base section. The lower surfaces of theplates 32 are disposed so that they will be slightly above thehorizontal plane determined by the lower surfaces of the runner ribs 5.This enables the vault to be readily moved over hard unyielding floorsurfaces, since the area of contact of the vault on such surfaces willbe limited to the width of the floor-engaging surfaces of the ribs 5.However, when the vault is placed on a smooth yielding surface, such aswhen positioned in the bottom of a grave, the plates 32 then becomeeffective in sustaining the weight of the vault and preventing anypossibility of undesired settling thereof in such a yielding supportingbed. Preferably, the ends of the plates 32 are formed with openings 3which render the latch members and the outer ends of the links 28accessible for the purpose of facilitating the insertion of the legextensions 30 into the openings 3| of the latch members. Also, theplates 32 are provided at intervals with parallel reenforcing ribs 35 toincrease their mechanical strength.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention providesa vault base of the inverted pan-type with improved means for effec ingthe fastening thereof to the hood or dome section of the vault and,also, improved means in the form of the plates 32, for preventingundesired settling of the base section in soft soils. The latchoperating mechanism is carried by and beneath the platform 2 of saidbase section so that it will be protected by the plates 32 againstinjury during shipment or otherwise, but will at all times be readilyaccessible by reason of the inclusion of the openings 34 in said platesand by the fact that the latches and their operating mechanism'may bealso readily reached through or over the inner edges 36 of said plates.Hitherto, it has been customary to mount these latching devices andtheir operating appliances in closed box-like housings or casings, whichhave rendered the said latching devices and their operating meansrelatively inaccessible for repair or adjustment purposes. In thepresent invention, these latching devices and/or operating means areopen, unhoused and readily accessible from the bottom of the basesection. Also, by mounting the latch operating appliances on theplatform 2 of the base section, the said appliances are protected andprevented from being injured during shipment or use. Thus in my priorapplication, above referred to, the actuating levers for the latches aredisclosed as being pivotally carried by the soil-engaging plates. It

has been found that during shipment or in the handling of the vaults, ifthese plates should become bent, distorted or dented, difficulty wasexperienced in effecting proper actuation of the latch mechanism. Theseobjections, however, are overcome with the use of the presentconstruction and a more secure mounting, generally, is provided for thelatch operating means.

What is claimed is:

1. A base for metallic grave vaults comprising an inverted pan-shapedbody formed to include an elevated horizontally extending platform anddepending side and end walls, movable latch members projecting throughthe side walls of said base, a depressed boss extension formed in saidplatform, a one-piece latch operating lever directly secured for pivotalmovement on the under side of said boss, said lever including anoperating extremity projecting beyond. one of said end walls, and a pairof oppositely extending link members having their inner ends connectedwith said lever on opposite sides of its pivotal mounting, the outerends of said link members being directly connected with said latchmembers.

2. A base section for grave vaults comprising an inverted pan-shapedbody formed to include a horizontally extending platform, depending sideand end walls and outwardly directed base flanges, a pair of movablelatch members carried in connection with the side walls of said base, anintegral one-piece latch operating lever pivotally secured directly tothe under side of said platform, said lever having an actuatingextremity projecting beyond one end wall of the base and a pair ofdownwardly directed lugs disposed on opposite sides of the pivot forsaid lever, and link devices directly connected at their ends with saidlatch members and said lugs.

3. A base section for grave vaults comprising an inverted pan-shapedbody formed to include a horizontally extending platform, depending sideand end walls and outwardly directed base flanges, a pair of movablelatch members carried in connection with the side walls of said base, alatch operating lever having its end portions disposed in relativelyoffset parallel planes, the first of said end portions being pivotallysecured directly to the under side of said platform, the other endportion being disposed for movement below the lower edge of an end wallof said base, a pair of downwardly directed lugs provided on the firstof said end portions, and a pair of links directly connected at theirends with said latch members and said lugs.

4. In a grave vault of the type having separable base and coversections, said base having a horizontally disposed platform anddepending side and end walls, means for locking said cover on said basecomprising a plurality of latch members supported by the side walls ofsaid base for swinging movement about horizontally disposed axes, apivot stud having a vertically extending axis directly carried by theplatform of said base, a one-piece lever supported with one end adjacentthe under side of said platform for movement about the axis of saidstud, the other end of said lever being disposed for movement in a planebelow the first end and projecting beyond the end wall of said base toform an actuating handle, lug means provided on the first-mentioned endof said lever on opposite sides of the pivotal mounting therefor, andlink members directly connected with said lugs and latch members.

5. In a grave vault of the type having separable base and coversections, said base having a horizontally disposed platform anddepending side and end walls, means for locking said cover on said basecomprising a plurality of latch members supported by the side walls ofsaid base for swinging movement about horizontally disposed axes, aone-piece lever supported with one end adjacent the under side of saidplatform for movement about a vertically disposed axis, the other end ofsaid lever being disposed for movement in a plane below the first endand projecting beyond the end wall of said base to form an actuatinghandle, lug means provided on the first-mentioned end of said lever onopposite sides of the pivotal mounting therefor, and link membersdirectly connected with said lugs and latch members.

6. In a grave vault of the type having separable base and coversections, said base having a horizontally disposed platform anddepending side and end walls, means for locking said cover on said basecomprising a plurality of latch members supported by the side Walls ofsaid base for swinging movement about horizontally disposed axes, apivot stud having a vertically extending axis directly carried by theplatform of said base, a one-piece lever supported with one end adjacentthe under side of said platform for movement about the axis of saidstud, the other end of said lever being disposed for movement in a planebelow the first end and projecting beyond the end wall of said base toform an actuating handle, the lower edge of said end wall being providedat one extremity of movement of said handle with a notch for thereception of said handle to temporarily restrain it against movement,lug means provided on the first-mentioned end of said lever on oppositesides of the pivotal mounting therefor, and link members directlyconnected with said lugs and latch members.

ALLEN F. BECK.

